There must be someone better

The movement to remove statues honoring flawed Americans — those who fought on the wrong side during the Civil War, for example — has gained strength.

That should make it especially jarring that the city of Washington, D.C., has just erected an 8-foot bronze statue of Marion Barry, right outside the Washington City Council building.

Barry, who died in 2014, may be familiar to you. He went to prison for a few years when, during one term as mayor, he was caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine. After he was released from prison, Washington voters elected him to city council, then mayor.

Barry was a deeply flawed individual, and corruption was part of his administrations. Surely Washington residents could have come up with someone more deserving of a statue.